Chapter 18
Lois pulled the Jeep into a barely-legal parking spot a block away from her destination and took a deep breath to steady her nerves before climbing out of the SUV.
Even from this distance, the crowd around Clark’s apartment building was apparent. She’d heard from Perry that it was enormous, but in reality, the magnitude of it defied belief.
She paused briefly at the edge of the seething mass of reporters, second-guessing her decision to come down here. The slimier tabloids were starting to publish stories speculating on the nature of her relationship with Clark and casting aspersions on her intelligence for not seeing the Kryptonian right under her nose; was it worth adding fuel to their mudslinging?
Would he even let her in?
Squaring her shoulders, she moved into the pack, using her slight build to take advantage of small gaps between the other reporters, trying to get as close to Clark’s door as she could without drawing attention to herself. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the crowd became too close-packed; she’d have to resort to more aggressive techniques to get through. Well, they didn’t call her ‘Mad Dog Lane’ for nothing.
Pushing, the occasional ‘accidental’ toe-crushing, and the judicious use of her elbow enabled her to get to Clark’s door. Swiping her hair out of her face triumphantly, she knocked on the door.
***
Clark did his best to ignore the insistent pounding on his front door, something that had been happening constantly since the story had broken two days ago. The reporters camped outside his apartment seemed to think that if they knocked long enough and loudly enough, he’d open the door, and he was determined not to oblige.
“Clark? It’s Lois.” The familiar voice snapped his head around. What was Lois doing here? For a moment he considered ignoring her as he’d ignored everyone else, before the possibility of Perry having sent her occurred to him. He’d promised Perry his cooperation. Sighing at the necessity, he approached the door, leaning his shoulder on it and raising his voice enough to be heard at the top of the steps outside.
“Lois? I thought Perry was on the story.”
“That's not why I'm here. Hang on.”
There was a muffled thud and the unmistakable sound of Lois castigating someone, probably another reporter that had gotten a little too close. Clark grinned in spite of himself. Even when he was furious with her- like he was now- there was just something about Lois Lane.
“Look, will you just let me in? Please?”
The plaintiveness of her please was the last straw. He never could resist that tone of hers. Sighing again, he turned the locks, opening the door just enough for her to sidle in and slamming it shut before any enterprising reporter could try and jam their foot in the crack. Turning to face his former partner, he crossed his arms over his chest.
“What are you doing here, Lois?” he asked coldly.
“I- wanted to see you.”
He shook his head slightly in denial.
“The last time you saw me didn’t exactly go well.” His jaw tightened in anger as he remembered exactly how that particular conversation had ended.
He moved away from the door, fishing in the cabinet where he’d stashed his bug-defeating device and switching it on.
“I know.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
“How I’m doing?” he repeated in disbelief. “Well, let’s see, Lois. The entire world knows my secret. I’m unemployed. I’m a prisoner in my own apartment. Half the reporters in the country are parked on my doorstep, just waiting for me to open the door. My parents are missing. I’ve spent the last few months being tortured. My best friend compared me to the devil incarnate. And on top of all that, if I do manage to get out of here, I have to watch my back in case there’s a madman lurking around with a piece of kryptonite. How do you think I’m doing, Lois?” he spat angrily.
“I know it seems bad, Clark-”
“Bad?! Bad doesn’t even begin to cover it, Lois! Everything I ever wanted is gone, do you understand that? I’ll spend the rest of my life under a microscope-” He moved too quickly and a shaft of pain radiated from his broken collarbone, wrenching a gasp from him.
Lois shifted as if to move towards him; Clark flung up his good hand to forestall her.
“Don’t. Don’t pretend to care. Not now. Just say whatever it is you came to say, and then get out.”
She shifted uneasily again, wetting her lips nervously; Clark snorted, his eyes narrowing. “Oh, I get it. You don’t really want to know how I am. You came to try and get in on the biggest story of your career. What, Perry wouldn’t give you the exclusive? No ‘Clark Kent is Superman’ headline for the great Lois Lane?” He turned away, disgusted by her and her ulterior motives before his eyes were caught by the muted television set.
“Clark-”
“Shh!” He raised his hand, cutting her off while he fumbled for the remote. Raising it, he turned up the volume.
“Reports are coming in of a passenger jet in trouble in the skies over Metropolis. Pilots have issued a mayday-”
“No,” he whispered. “Not again.”
“Well?”
“Well what?” he responded, his eyes glued to the screen.
“Aren’t you going to go do something about it?” Lois demanded.
He whirled, nearly incandescent with rage and grief. “I can’t! Your boyfriend saw to that!”
“Oh god. You don’t have your powers.”
“No. I don’t.”
He turned back to the television, willing the barely-visible dot on the screen to stop its downward dive, unaware of his fists clenching so tight his fingernails dug into his own flesh.
***
Captain Wilding glanced at the altimeter, willing it to stay somewhat steady as he delicately balanced the thrust of his two powerful engines.
The massive thump that had reverberated from aft, followed by the sudden near-uncontrollability of his aeroplane, had marred the end of an otherwise uneventful flight. He and his co-pilot, Steve Durand, had been preparing to descend into Metropolis International, looking forward to nothing but a hot shower and a rest after an eight-hour flight from London; instead, now they were locked in a battle that he didn’t think they could win.
Even as he tried to balance the thrust controls, the nose of the aircraft pitched down, forcing him to increase the thrust to try and increase the lift to pull the Boeing 777 out of its dive. His mind raced, considering the possible reasons for their sudden predicament.
No hydraulics. Collapse of the ceiling at the aft of the plane. And this nearly uncontrollable cycle of climbing and falling. A phugoid cycle.
Could they have somehow lost part of the tail assembly?
The radio crackled back to life.
‘Metro 331, you are cleared to land at Metropolis International on runway eleven, runway one-one-‘
“Negative,” Wilding responded, casting another glance at the altimeter.
“Okay… what runway would you like?”
Wilding looked at the still dropping altimeter, quickly calculating their rate of descent and their distance from the airport.
He keyed the radio again.
“We’re not going to make it to the airport.” He took a deep breath. “We’ll be in the bay.”
Beside him, Durand’s head snapped around.
“The bay?”
‘Please confirm Metro 331. You’ll be in the bay?’
“Affirmative.”
“Isn’t that risky?” Durand asked.
“This thing is going down. We don’t have the altitude to get back to the airport. What would you rather do, risk coming down in the streets?”
***
No powers.
Lois swallowed as the implications of that sunk in. Superman would once again not be swooping in to save the day. She glanced away from the screen and took in Clark’s rigid figure, his hands knotted into fists at his sides and an expression of agony on his face as he stared at the set with wide, unblinking eyes.
Her fury at his accusations melted away at the sight of his evident anguish.
Regardless of what had passed between and of her anger at his deception, they had been- they were- friends. And this was clearly a torture far beyond the physical injuries Lex’s thugs had inflicted on him. Was this what it had been like for him through all of this?
He was straining forward like he was trying to will himself off the ground, and in a sudden moment of clarity, she understood.
She’d seen her share of accidents. You didn’t grow up in a city the size of Metropolis without seeing some kind of tragedy unfold. But she’d always known there was nothing she could do- except maybe write a hard-hitting investigative article about an accident and its causes.
It was different for Clark. He had the power to stop accidents. To stop people from getting hurt or killed. As Superman, he’d never had to stand on the sidelines and know there was nothing he could do.
Until Lex had somehow discovered his secret.
Had Lex realised the magnitude of the torture he’d been inflicting on Clark? Lois doubted it. To do so would take a greater understanding of humanity than she thought he was capable of.
“You’ve never had to do this, have you?” She broke the tense silence that had fallen over the room
“Do what?” he asked without turning away from the screen.
“Stand by and watch something horrible happen because there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
“No.” His voice was clipped. “Not until recently.”
She fell silent, moving closer to Clark in case her presence was in any way comforting. Together they stood in silence as the stricken plane plummeted towards Hobbs Bay, appearing for a final instant to level off before it disappeared in a spray of water and shattered debris.
***
Perry and Jimmy stood side-by-side in the newsroom bullpen, watching as the Boeing 777 dipped towards the waters of the bay. Perry winced internally as the plane crashed into the harbour at speed. The odds of anyone surviving a crash like that were slim, he knew. Those that had survived the impact had to get themselves out of the twisted remains of the fuselage, likely with crippling injuries, before they drowned, and then wait for rescue craft to get to them.
Could this have been another of Luthor’s ploys? Clark had said they had a week before another LexMarine ship docked; surely it was too soon?
Whether it was or not, one thing was certain. Clark was about to become the target of even more hatred. And if he stuck to his refusal to admit the existence of Kryptonite, it could be Superman’s death knell.
***
Lois snuck a sideways look at Clark. The agonised expression on his face had been replaced with grief, and the last of her anger at his deception melted away. He’d just been trying to protect himself. Trying to do good without the public exposure that now trapped him in his own home. Did she really have the right to blame him for that?
She turned towards him, drawing a shuddering breath.
“Look, Clark. I can’t do anything about your parents, or the reporters on your doorstep, or the fact that everyone knows that you’re Superman. But maybe I can help with getting rid of Lex.”
“You want in on the investigation,” Clark stated.
She nodded. “Yes.”
He stared at her with cold eyes, an expression she’d previously only seen him direct at criminals.
“Why should I let you in?”
“You don’t trust me,” she stated.
“You compared me to a murderous, blackmailing psychopath, Lois. You see that?” He pointed to the news coverage, still showing the bits of wreckage bobbing on the waters of the harbour. “That’s his doing. Do you really think I’m capable of something like that?”
“No. No, I know you better than that. I was wrong, Clark. I was angry, and I was hurting, and-” she broke off, swallowing hard against the threatening tears. “And I didn't want to believe that I’d misjudged two of the most important people in my life so badly.” She sighed. “He asked me to marry him,” she said jerkily. “The night before you told us. He took me to Italy and on the way back he proposed to me. I went over there on the morning that… everyone found out about you… to tell him no.” She shivered at the memory. “He was acting like my saying yes was a foregone conclusion, a formality. And then when he realised I was saying no…” she trailed off. “You were right, Clark. Behind that-that facade- there’s something else. Something… inhuman.” She shuddered again. “You’re not capable of that,” she gestured at the screen. “But I think he is.”
***
Clark surveyed the woman standing next to him, taking in the earnestness of her tone, the little catch and tremble in her voice, the disgusted shudders that had racked her body when she spoke of Luthor.
He wanted to trust her. He wanted to trust her so badly. This was Lois. His friend. His partner. The woman that he was drawn to in a way no other woman had ever affected him. But…
She was also the one who’d compared him to his greatest enemy. She’d apologised, but was the really enough to repair the damage? And she had been close to Luthor. Maybe she still was.
“Okay. You’re in,” he told her abruptly. “But I’m warning you. If one word- one word- gets back to Luthor that we’re investigating him, then he’ll kill me. And Perry. And Jack. And Jimmy. And you. He won’t even think twice about it. So if you want in so you can report to Luthor then you’ll be condemning people you care about to death.”
